


Someone once said that there is no harder road than the easy way out.

by marlowe78



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Cutting, Gen, Talking, Wires, the basics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-22
Updated: 2015-04-22
Packaged: 2018-03-25 06:51:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3800914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marlowe78/pseuds/marlowe78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some things just don't occur reasonable to Tony, no matter how much he thinks about them. Good thing that he's got a mouth and can just ask, right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Someone once said that there is no harder road than the easy way out.

„Hey, Captain- wait a second.“ 

Steve sighed, not really in the mood for a complicated conversation right now. He’d just come back from a debriefing with Director Fury and was too exhausted to follow the logic – or non-logic – leaps in Tony Stark’s ramblings. They’d done good, been a good team during the alien invasion (seriously? Aliens? What the Hell?) and he’d found that for all that Tony wasn’t Howard, he was very good to have on your side. 

If he was too quirky for Steve to keep up, that wasn’t something that could be solved quickly. 

“What?” Maybe he was a bit snappish, but Steve was _tired_. “Can we make it short?”

“I certainly hope so, Captain Awesome. I’ve got some press-conference in ten minutes and I still need to change into something expensive and comfortable for that.” 

Steve turned and had to smile a little. Tony Stark looked freshly showered and halfway to exhausted, a few butterfly-bandages keeping the cuts on his face together. He was pale, though that could be due to the terrible lighting in the S.H.I.E.L.D-hallways. He was wearing track-pants and a loose hoodie, both clearly not from Stark’s personal stack. It was very unlikely Tony would have clothes with the SHIELD-emblem, and if he did, they’d fit like a glove and not like a burlap-sack. 

“Fine, shoot.”

They fell in step next to each other, much easier than Steve would have assumed during their first meeting. For a few seconds, nothing further was spoken, but when they rounded a corner into a less-crowded section, Tony made a smacking sound with his lips and spoke.

“What is wrong with cutting the wire?`”

The question didn’t make much sense, and Steve shot Tony a quick glance. There was not a lot on his face, just a slight hint of puzzlement. Wire?

Oh. Oooooh.

“Stark…” Steve stopped walking and it took Stark two steps to realize and stop too. They were facing each other now, and Steve was pretty sure they were pretty evenly matched in tiredness and sudden adrenaline-drop. “We were both under the influence of the scepter –“

“Of course, I know. Blabla, evil influence and all. Fine fine. But you didn’t say that just out of a whim, you meant it, and I’m asking: why is that bad?”

What had he said? Most of their conversation had been overwritten by the events following, the explosion and by Banner hulking out and Coulson’s death and … stuff. 

He was vaguely aware that he’d been insulting, mostly because he could still feel the guilt on his tongue and a voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like his mom, scolding him for minding his manners. But what exactly had he said? _You will never lay down on the wire and let the other guy crawl over you_ , or something in that regard. 

Sheesh, he’d been an asshole!

“Look… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that and …”

“Don’t be sorry, I don’t need an apology. Though, by the way, you did. Well, I’m 98,9% sure that you did, there’s a slight margin for error here but it’s insignificant. The scepter didn’t make things up, it used what was in our minds and made it bitter and hurtful, but it didn’t change facts. I, for one, have thought about you exactly what I told you, once or twice in my life. I’d probably not have said it, but then again –“ he pointed at himself “me here. Could be I would’ve. It’s not the point, fact is, you thought that and believed that. Why?”

_”You’re a laboratory experiment. Everything special about you came out of a bottle.”_

Ouch. While Steve couldn’t remember his own words exactly, Stark’s vitriol was loud and clear in his mind. Well. He probably deserved it. Still painful, and knowing it hadn’t come from empty air… That Howard’s son really thought that his worth was based just on the juices inside his body… that was doubly painful. Still, it wasn’t exactly _wrong_ that he’d thought Tony to be nothing but flash in a fancy suit. He’d been quick to judge and quick to lash out, something he wouldn’t have done without the scepter, this much he knew deep in his bones. Steve always gave people more than one chance to show their colors. And Tony’s had been a lot brighter than he’d have guessed. But then, his first idea of the man called Tony Stark had been based on gossip and magazines.

He took a breath. “Stark – Tony. Don’t dwell on it, I was wrong about you. You proved –“ again, he was interrupted – this was getting to be a theme, he could see it. 

Tony sneered at him and Steve could witness the honest question in his face morph into a hard mask that didn’t look anything like Howard and exactly like him at the same time. 

“I don’t need your approval, Captain. I’m not seeking it and I don’t need it. I don’t need to prove anything to anyone. I know who I am and what I’m worth. I know what I can do and what I won’t do and there are a lot of things I never thought I would do and I’m finding myself doing them anyway and that is fine. I don’t need anyone assessing my worth, because I. Already. Know. This here is not about me seeking your apology – do I _look_ like I need an apology? – or about please-please-be-my-friend-Captain-America-Sir. Or about proving something” – he made it sound like ‘proof’ was the dirty thing you wipe the floor with – “to someone. I’ve done that my whole life and it blew up in my face, but I came out the other side alive and kicking. I have issues a mile high, but they are _my_ issues and I own them, just as I own my mistakes. I don’t act like it, but I’m a grown man, I’m older than you and I don’t need you or SHIELD or anyone holding my hand. There is only one person I need to prove anything to, and that would be me. I’m the one who has to live with the consequences of my actions, and that. Is. Fine. My actions, my responsibilities, my decisions and in the end, my conscience has to weigh it all and either let me sleep at night or keep me awake, and you’re all damn lucky that my conscience is a better guy than I am. I’ve always made my own bed, and nowadays I sleep just fine. Because I own myself, everything about me, my life, my possessions and my mind. I’m my own man – and I fucking know who I am! I’m my own person and if I fight with you, if I work with SHIELD? Well, I do that because I want to. I don’t get paid, I’m not here because of a sense of duty, I’ve got nothing here that can _make_ me take orders. I’m here because _I_ want to be, and the moment I don’t anymore?” He stopped, probably to take a breath. “I’m gone. So no. I don’t have to prove anything to anyone here. But it still doesn’t give me an answer to my question.” 

He took another deep breath, shaking his head as if the original thought needed to be shaken loose. 

“What is wrong with cutting the wire!”

Steve blinked, trying to get back to the beginning of this rant. Tony Stark had an ability to leave him speechless, be it by words or by deeds. And he wasn’t finished yet.

“Because from where I’m standing, it makes no sense to lie on a fucking wire and let people crawl over you if you could just disable the bomb. And you’re supposed to be a tactician, _The Man with the Plan_ \- where is the sense in losing a man if there is a better, less bloody way out? What is _wrong_ with having a way out? Is that something you learn in the Army? ‘How to be blown to bits in the most honorable way, 101’? I don’t get it… it’s just _stupid!_.”

And Steve… Steve had to laugh. It might be rude and it might be due to exhaustion, but he just couldn’t help himself and he laughed. 

“You’re right, Stark. It is stupid. Utterly stupid.” He started walking again, and right as he passed Stark he inclined his head slightly towards him. “And for the record – I will always let you cut the wire.”

It did feel incredible to leave Stark speechless for once.

**Author's Note:**

> Ah, well. One more story about that fight on the helicarrier. The one influenced by the sceptre. I just kinda needed this out there (and all the other fics about that moment are a bit different, so I thought it couldn't hurt to have one more)


End file.
